Xoarian

The five-tentacled xoarians infiltrate many societies, although it's unclear how much of their activities are at the behest of the Dominion of the Black and how much is for their own perverse enjoyment. Known as corpse riders by Golarion scholars, little is understood of their origins beyond the suspicion that they come from a distant planet named Xoar.

When a xoarian infiltrates a community, its first priority is to acquire a host body. They often choose the recently dead for this role, as murdering a living host could draw unwanted attention. When the aberration compresses itself into a host's brain cavity, it becomes able to move the host's body as its own. It also acquires a complex range of senses it normally lacks.

Each new body brings the opportunity for new tastes, sounds, sights, and even pains. When gathered in groups, xoarians work to increase their status and taste the experiences denied to the lower classes. Xoarians controlling a body have little to fear but discovery, and even that simply pauses their games. Harm to the host is just another sensation to experience, and replacement bodies are easy to find.

The Dominion of the Black is a conglomeration of deep-space conquerors with a strong presence on Aucturn, the most remote planet in Golarion's solar system. The Dominion has secret outposts all over Golarion; most of its members on the planet are scouts, using their skills to steal brains and identities, gathering information without any consideration for the inhabitants of the worlds they infiltrate.